


Take Me Home

by just_another_classic



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, cs au week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 11:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7506148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_another_classic/pseuds/just_another_classic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma succeeded in destroying the darkness in Camelot. Now back in Storybrooke, Killian surprises her with a house. How will she respond? (Canon Divergence for CS AU week)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Me Home

**Author's Note:**

> This is my submission for CS AU Week. Season 5 canon divergence.

Her eyes are brimming with unshed tears, and there’s an unrelenting knot in her throat as she takes in the sight before her: Killian, his head ducked down in apprehension, standing in the middle of a very large, very empty house, one that he apparently now owns. It’s all a little overwhelming, and a slightly bit confusing, but her heart is pounding wildly in her chest because of the enormity of it all.

 

“You bought a house.”

 

Emma knows she’s said this twice before after his announcement, and nothing but the sentence. She must sound like a broken record, but – _holy cow_ – Killian bought a house. Captain Hook – dashing rapscallion, scourge of the seven seas, pirate captain, and lover of adventure – has purchased a home in the suburbs of her very small town that if more often than not cursed so that they can never leave. It makes her head spin, because he’s not the sort of guy who puts down roots like this. A house is a permanent sort of thing that ties you down, something that you can’t so easily sail away from and –

 

“What about your boat?”

 

“She’s still docked in the Storybrooke harbor, love,” he replies, looking at her with that so soft and devoted expression of his that still sometimes terrifies her. “I can take her out whenever I desire. Maybe soon with you and Henry, yeah?”

 

It doesn’t escape Emma that he didn’t correct her on the “boat” thing.

 

It strikes her just how nervous he is behaving. He’s swaying slightly where he stands a few feet away from her, and there’s a slight flush across his cheeks. She sees his tongue peek out and wet his lips, an action that normally causes heat to pool low in her belly, but now she feels the deep desire to simply hold him. They’ve both been through so much.

 

“It’s really nice, Killian,” she says, and she feels a surge of happiness at the grin that quickly blooms across his face. She reaches out to wrap her hand around his hook to further drive the point home.

 

“So you like it? Truly?”

 

“I mean, yeah. It’s great,” she replies with a laugh. “Of course, you’re going to have to fill me in on what you plan to do with the place. I know your boat is full of things, but this place is pretty huge for just one guy.”

 

“Ah, yes, that,” Killian says, and suddenly he’s back to acting incredibly nervous, scratching behind his ear with his free hand. “Emma, I want – well, I was hoping – darling, when I purchased this home, it was with the hope that I would not be the sole occupant.”

 

Oh.

 

She knows what he is asking, or isn’t in this case. He didn’t just buy this house – this large, gorgeous, something like a dream house – solely for him. He wants it for her, for them. He wants a future with her, and probably with Henry, as well. They’re a package deal, after all.

 

She opens her mouth to say something, anything, but no words come out. She isn’t sure she is even capable of speaking. It’s all so much, too much.

 

So Emma does what she does best: she runs.

 

-/-

 

She’s sitting on her bed at the loft, twisting the chain on the ring that Killian gave her in Camelot, when she hears the front door open and then slam. For one brief second, she hopes that Killian has followed her back to the loft, but the loud and familiar footfalls tell her that it is Henry. She hangs the chain back around her neck and takes a moment to right herself before going downstairs to greet her son.

 

“Hey, kid, how were milkshakes with Merlin?”

 

“Really cool. He has so many awesome stories,” Henry replies, grinning widely. Emma returns her smile, pleased to see her son’s exuberance. She’s thankful that Merlin decided to join them in their return to Storybrooke, not only because he promised to help her better understand her magic, but also because of the knowledge and mentorship he can provide her son in regards to his Author abilities. “So when are we moving?”

 

His question catches her off guard.

  
  
“Moving?”

 

“I know Killian showed you the house,” Henry explains in his increasingly more common ‘well duh’ sort of tone that reminds her that she is on the cusp of raising a teenager. “Killian already said I could pick my room, which I’ve decided is the third floor bedroom, by the way.”

 

“Killian told you about the house?” She feels weak at the knowledge that Henry and Killian were plotting together on this.

 

“Well, yeah, I helped pick it out!” Henry announces cheerfully, obviously quite pleased with himself. “He wanted to make sure I’d be okay with the whole thing before he picked anything out, which was dumb, because of course I would be. And since he’d never picked out a house before, you know, because he lived on a ship his whole life, I gave my expert opinion. We were gonna tell you in Camelot, but then you defeated the darkness, so we thought we’d surprise you here. We even had a name – Operation: Light Swan. Cool, right?”

 

“Yeah, cool.”

 

Emma moves to get a glass of water, because she really needs to do something with her hands. Her heart is beating furiously in her chest in response to the information Henry has revealed, and she feels the pinpricks of tears in the corner of her eyes at Killian’s own consideration of Henry and his feelings.

  
  
“So when are we moving? Is it soon, because I’m getting really tired of being woken up by Neal.”

 

She takes a deep gulp of water before answering. “Moving in with someone is a big deal.”

 

“Moving in with someone is, but this is Killian.” A beat. “Mom, you didn’t so say no. Please tell me you didn’t say no.”

 

“I didn’t say no,” Emma corrects. She didn’t say yes, either. She actually said nothing at all, not that Henry needs to know that. “This is just a big step that needs to be carefully considered.”

 

“Mom, it’s Killian.” The “well duh” tone is back in full force, but now there’s a pleading hint to it. “Killian, you know, the guy who gave up his ship for you and stopped at nothing to find you when you were in Camelot. He loves you. He loves us. He wants to be a family with us.”

 

She’s tempted to remind Henry that he said something similar about Walsh, and that went to hell. But she knows, objectively knows, that Killian is so very different from a flying monkey, and that he’s proven time and time again that he would follow her everywhere, and that he wouldn’t leave.

  
  
And then she thinks of Killian, and how he bought a house for him – for them – and how she ran away in response.

  
  
Emma knows what she needs to do.  
  
-/-

 

She finds him on his ship.

 

His jacket is off and he’s scrubbing furiously at the deck. His brows are furrowed and his mouth is drawn into a thin line. Even from afar, she can sense the tension radiating from him. He gut knots at the knowledge that she is the cause of whatever frustration he’s feeling.

 

She walks to the gangplank, and she’s halfway up before he notices her. Her heart drops when he doesn’t greet her with a smile, as is usual for him. “Swan.”

 

“Permission to come aboard?”

 

He stands and waves his hooked arm outward in answer. He’s hurt, that much she knows. She often forgets that he has his own walls and insecurities, and that his grand gesture was probably just and terrifying to him as it had been to her, and she more or less trampled all over his heart.

 

“I have walls,” she tells him without provocation as she steps the rest of the way up the gangplank and onto the deck of his ship. He doesn’t move toward her, and stands stock-still, eying her warily.

 

“I know. I liked being the one to break them down.”

 

“I liked that, too,” she tells him, hoping that she isn’t messing up too badly. She’s incredibly terrible at this relationship thing, the openness needed to make it thrive. She’s still honestly terrified, but she needs to do this, for her and for him.

 

“But not enough for you to want a future with me.”

 

That hurts, but it’s fair. Inaccurate, but fair. She knows how she would feel and think if he had been the one to walk out on her. “But I do, want a future with you, that is.”

 

“Do you?”

 

“Of course I do,” Emma insists emphatically. She moves toward him and threads his fingers with her own. It’s a relief when he doesn’t pull away. “It’s just – I have so much armor. It’s not bright and shining, but it’s there…and I often forget that I don’t need it around you.”

  
  
She leans up to kiss him, a soft sort of thing. She feels a surge of victory when his lips respond under hers. When they break away, she smiles at him, her grin growing wider when he returns hers. “I love you, Killian Jones.”

 

“And I you,” he says softly. “Listen, Swan, I ought to apologize for the suddenness of gesture. I should have–“

 

She cuts him off with a finger to his lips, effectively shushing him. “There’s nothing to apologize for. I love the house. Really.”

 

“You have an odd way of it showing it, love,” he tells her wish a chuckle. “But if you wish not—“

 

“I do,” she says, and then flushes. “I mean, I wish. I wish to move in with you.”

 

Emma doesn’t know if she’s ever seen Killian flash a more beautiful smile.


End file.
